Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck has the goal of getting more national exposure for his program, and Wednesday offered a prime example of that.
First, Fleck released a video on Twitter documenting the creative method he used to announce that senior kicker Justin Juenemann -- who has yet to see action for the Gophers -- was receiving a scholarship.
Fleck brought Kyle Tanner, a patient at the University of Minnesota's Masonic Children's Hospital, into his team's meeting room, handed Tanner an air cannon loaded with a T-shirt and had Tanner shoot the T-shirt to Juenemann, who had befriend the patient during hospital visits. The T-shirt read, "Justin, congratulations on earning a scholarship!"
The video is a big hit on social media, and a variety of national outlets picked it up.
The timing of the video dovetailed neatly with Wednesday night's airing on ESPNU of the second episode of "Being P.J. Fleck", a behind-the-scenes look at the coach's transition to Minnesota leading into his first season as Gophers coach.
Included in that episode were visits to the children's hospital, and players checking in on Tanner was one of those. One has to think that the Tanner-to-Juenemann air cannon connection will be included in one of the two remaining episodes, which air the next two Wednesdays.
But the documentary wasn't only features. It also delved into the controversy Fleck faced late this spring when he released a Twitter video that showed footage of his football camps that included current recruits.
That quickly got the attention of other programs, who, according to 24/7Sports, alerted the NCAA to what they believed was a recruiting violation. NCAA rules do not allow schools to post videos of recruits.
